Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, who faced flak for his comments on intolerance, on Monday defined patriotism as being "sensitive" towards society and having love in your heart.

The actor, who starred in films like Lagaan, Mangal Pandey and Rang De Basanti, said for him patriotism means helping the society and people to improve their lives.

Aamir Khan. Reuters

"For patriotism, it is necessary to have love in your heart, sensitivity towards the society and people. That is patriotism for me."

Aamir's remarks on growing intolerance in the country had evoked sharp reactions last year.

The actor, who turned 51 on Monday, said no matter what he does, certain people will always raise questions against him.

"What I feel is majority of the audience knows me. My relationship with them has been of over 27 years. So the people who question me are already biased against me. No matter what I do they will question," Aamir said when asked about it.

The PK star said he avoids negativity and instead focuses on positive aspects.

"I don't react to that. No matter who you are, what you do in life people raise question on you, doubt you. The only thing is you should not be negative. You should be positive and be aware of what you're doing.

"Your conscience should be clear, you should focus on your positivity and people's positivity towards you. Most of the people are positive. But negative people shout a lot so we hear negative things a lot. Negative people are few in number but since they shout we feel there are too many."

Aamir's statement last November that he was "alarmed" by a number of incidents and that his wife Kiran Rao even suggested that they should leave the country had caused a nationwide outrage.

After the controversy broke out over his remarks, Aamir had clarified that neither he nor his wife had any intention of leaving the country.

The Bollywood star, who has partnered with the BJP-led state government to improve the water crisis situation in Maharashtra, also appealed to people to have a dry Holi this year.

"I was on born on Holi. So, I request everyone to use minimum water. If they don't use any water then great. Have a dry Holi, please value water."